


Priorities

by TheArchaeologist



Category: Guardians of the Galaxy (Movies)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Blood, Broken Bones, Drama, First Mission, Gen, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Poor Kraglin, Swearing, Young Kraglin, Young Yondu, injuries, it goes wrong, what do you expect it's Yondu and Kraglin
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-15
Updated: 2017-08-15
Packaged: 2018-12-15 20:49:25
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,847
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11813922
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheArchaeologist/pseuds/TheArchaeologist
Summary: Yondu and Kraglin go on their first mission together. It goes as well as to be expected.





	Priorities

Yondu is a brute. A large, blue, whistling brute. If he has a problem with you, he’s more than happy to enter your personal bubble and square up in your face. If you’ve pissed him off, he’ll tell you in a heartbeat. If he believes you’re not pulling your weight, damn straight you’ll get your ass handed to you on a silver platter with all the trimmings.

Which is why, after being with Yondu for a few months, Kraglin is bewildered when the heist they are pulling is brought to a very sudden halt. Over a nodding dog. 

“Sir?” Kraglin hisses, peering around the corner for the guards. They’re in some swanky mansion, complete with what he guesses is meant to be art (there’s some kind of marble statue thing watching him on the other side of the room. What it’s meant to be Kraglin has no idea, other than it has too many eyes for him to be comfortable) and an indoor pool which Yondu nearly went face first into. There’s also more corridors than they had anticipated. The shithead they got the blueprints from had better give a bloody refund; otherwise things were going to get messy.

“Sir?” Kraglin says again, watching in confusion as Yondu taps the head of the dog, bobbing his own head along with it. “Captain!”

“What?”

“The guards are gonna be here soon.”

“This bugger’s cute.” Yondu comments and Kraglin can only stare in utter confusion. His murderous, thuggish Captain just called something cute. 

“We’ll…We’ll come back, afterwards, yeah?” Kraglin can’t believe he’s having to say this. It’s like a child seeing something in a shop window, and nagging until the mother promises to come back later. 

“Don’t tell me-”

There’s a flash of light and both men shut up instantly. Footsteps approach the dark room, far closer than either would like. 

“Get down!”

Kraglin doesn’t need to be told twice; he scurries across the room and dives into the large elaborate chest sat in the corner. It’s filled with blankets or clothes or something, making for a soft landing and tight fit. Kraglin thanks his lucky stars that he’s a skinny bastard; otherwise this would be near impossible. Someone like Yondu would never fit.

Something with sequins is scraping against his head, but he ignores it and holds his breath, listening as the footsteps enter the room. Kraglin hadn’t looked to see where Yondu had hid, hopefully somewhere sensible and not behind a pillar which was too thin for him, like the time they were chased for shoplifting. After a pause where Kraglin assumes the guard is looking around the room, they move on, becoming distant and muffled by the thick wood of the chest. Kraglin decides to wait a little longer, to be safe. 

The chest lid opens and Yondu stars down at him.

“Nice hat.”

Thanks.”

As he sits up the sequin thing stays perched on his head, and, because he’s a totally manly member of a vicious Ravager crew (the ‘crew’ consisting of Captain, a mechanic and himself), Kraglin does not admire the sparkly item when he yanks it off.

“Come on.” Yondu says in a low voice, “Before they come back around.”

They continue sneaking around the mansion, in search of their target. This was their first proper mission as a Ravager crew, with Yondu as Captain. Needless to say both felt a certain desire for them to succeed. For Yondu, it was something that he could show off to Stakar, something that would prove that he could carry out a heist, that he could lead his men (well, man in this case.) For Kraglin, this was the moment where he either proved himself to his new boss or the moment when he decided that this was a damn stupid idea, and he was better off scrounging on Knowhere. Or this could be the moment that they both get their heads blown off over some stupid nodding dog, who knows, the night’s still young. 

“It’s in here.” Yondu said, holding up the data pad in his hands. The blinking yellow dot on the screen showed the item was inside the room.

Kraglin took one look at the door.

“I don’t think we’re gonna get in that way.” He said, and Yondu glanced at him, and then the door. “Unless you got some dynamite.”

“Shit.” Yondu stared at the heavy metal door. Kraglin counted at least fifteen different locks, all of a different type and required all sorts of skills. Knowing their luck, you probably had to do them in a certain order, too.

“Would should we do?”

“Looks like your skinny ass will be of use after all.”

Kraglin blinked.

“Scuse me?” 

“Vents.” Yondu is already reaching up and unscrewing the bolts, “According to the blueprints, this goes right over.”

“According to the blueprints, this place is meant to be a lot smaller on the inside.”

“Yeah? Well unless you have some other plan…?” Kraglin purses his lips. Yondu huffs and puts his hands together, back to the wall. “Didn’t think so, now up!”

“Yes Captain.” 

Clambering up Yondu, Kraglin is able to reach the opening and heave himself in. Yondu keeps hold of his legs until he’s mostly in. It’s a tight fit, his Kraglin’s arms pretty much pinned to his side, but he’s able to wiggle in the dark, dusty space. 

“Ya good?”

“I think?” He grits out, “How far am I going?” 

“Dunno, couple meters?”

“Great.” Dust gets up his nose and he sneezes. “Ya know, it strikes me as kinda stupid to have a vent above a saferoom.”

“They’re rich.” Yondu replies and he sounds closer to the vent opening. Kraglin wonders if he’s pulled himself up or something. “All rich people are stupid.”

“Amen.”

He keeps wriggling until he finds some kind of square pad on the floor. Giving it a tentative push, Kraglin nearly has a heart attack as it falls away into the room, only to then swing on the hinges. The hole’s smaller than the vent opening, and Kraglin realises its either head first, or he’s going to have to do some gymnastics. 

“You there?”

“Yeah, just give me a moment…” He’s trying to pulling himself over the gap, so he can get to the other side and then back up, going legs first. But it’s not exactly easy. His hands are on either side of the vent, trying to move forward. 

A hand slips, and Kraglin ends up going face first, only just catching the edge of the gap.

“Woah!”

“What happened?” Yondu sounds tense, and Kraglin is reminded that a lot is riding on this heist. He huffs, feeling uncomfortable with the dust and whatever other dirt likes to accumulate in the ducts stuck on his face. His legs are still in the vent, as are his hands, but his head and torso are now hanging there uselessly, he’ll need to bring his legs out.

“Kraglin?”

“Sorry, jus’…Gotta readjust…” 

He’s not too far from the floor, really, so if he could just free himself he’ll be able to jump onto the floor.

There’s a low, angry growl in his directly in ear.

Kraglin startles, and whips his head around, coming face to face with a very pissed Bunia. 

Bunias are wicked things, all teeth and hair and claws. They’re more than happy to take a chunk out of you, given the chance, and often don’t leave anything but bones in their wake. Bunias also have this annoying habit of being able to camouflage against any background, making them popular guards for the rich.

“H-hey boy,” Kraglin says quietly, “What’s all the growling about?”

“What?” Yondu sounds bewildered.

“That’s a lot of teeth, isn’t it?” Kraglin’s slowly bringing his feet out of the vent, eyes not leaving the beast. “There’s no need for all that, I ain’t gonna do anything.”

“You high in there?” 

“This room’s occupied, Captain.” Feet now on the floor, the thing meets Kraglin’s shoulders. It’s still growling, but its shoulders are less tense. “With a Bunia.”

“A…Shit. You have your blaster?”

“Yeah, but it takes more than one hit to take them out, by that time the alarm will go off.”

“Can you see the item?” 

“Umm…” Carefully Kraglin takes his eyes off the animal and glances around, finally spying the ring on a stand by the wall. “Yeah.”

“Very slowly, take it, and get back here.”

“Uh-huh…” Taking a small step back, the animal follows, the growling becoming quieter. “It’s ok, I ain’t gonna do anything, just going over here…” He’s now by the stand, but hesitant to reach out and pluck the ring. For a moment, there is an awkward standoff, the beast moving and Kraglin not fancying pushing any limits the animal has. Then the Bunia begins sniffing, and the hunches and tail lower. A wet nose is pressed into Kraglin’s neck, and he dares not breath, waiting for sharp teeth to sink in. But the nose travels down, and rests on his chest pocket. 

“Nnrrr…” The creature moans, pressing the nose close.

“Oh? You like that?” He carefully reaches into the pocket, pulling out the half eaten packet of Xandarian chocolate. He holds it out, and the smelling increases. “Hey, you want some of this? Ok…Ok why don’t we put it down there? That looks like your bed…” 

 

He inches over to the corner of the room, where some blankets are bundled up. He tosses it near the back, and creeps away. The Bunia watches him before trotting over and settling down, facing the wall and biting into the chocolate.

Kraglin backs away, carefully picking up the ring and putting into the inside pocket of his jacket. The Bunia still seems occupied, so he sneaks back to the vent, waiting until the beast has a mouthful to jump up and catch the ledge, which required having his back to the animal.

“Kraglin?” Yondu calls.

“Got it, just-”

A gun goes off in the outside corridor, making everyone jump.

“Holy shit!” Yondu shouts, “Where you guys come from?”

There’s whistling, shouting, gunfire echoing off the corridor walls. A shrill alarm is set off, high and uncomfortable and loud and constant, and somewhere amongst the sudden activity Kraglin’s forgot he’s hanging from the ceiling in the same room as a Bunia. 

Well, until teeth sink into his kneecap.

“Ah!” 

The Bunia’s trying to pull him down from the vent, but Kraglin struggles, kicking the animal in the nose with his free foot while trying to haul himself upwards. By some miracle he’s able to he’s able to get his elbows and the top of his torso into the vent, hands desperately scrabbling for a hold as the Bunia’s teeth sink further into bone. He tries to risk reaching for his blaster, but when he does he gets tugged back, sliding against the smooth vent surface with only one hand, and quickly he abandons that thought. 

“Captain!” He cries out before he can stop himself, trying to kick the Bunia again. “Fuck you, that was good chocolate!”

There’s all sorts of whistling going on at the end of the vent and occasionally he can see the red trail of the arrow go whizzing by. Apparently the Captain is otherwise occupied. The Bunia suddenly lets go, and for a split second Kraglin is able to crawl further into the vent, but the creature is back like a shot, this time grabbing onto his thigh. It’s realised it could jump for a better hold, the bastard. 

However, that means the animal was now dangling from his thigh, which meant tugging was a whole lot harder. Now he was further in, Kraglin attempted to reach for his blaster again. 

Hot, sticky blood was running down the inside of his jumpsuit, and somewhere within his leg bone was shifting in ways bone should not shift. So when the beast received a full blast in the face, resulting in a high pitched yelp and the smell of burning flesh, he has no regrets.

He would miss that chocolate, though.

Yanking himself forward, Kraglin was finally fully inside the vent and able to tug himself forward. Pain racked his leg, paralysing it and sending white jolts through his body with every movement. It dragged behind him, useless as he struggled onwards.

“Captain?”

He reached the end, and cautiously peered out. Yondu was a little way down the corridor, whistling like crazy on one group of guards while using a blaster on another.

“Captain!”

Yondu briefly glanced his way, and appeared to finish off both groups. He jogged over.

“Were the hell were you?” He reached up, supporting Kraglin as he wriggled out of the vent. As feet touched ground Kraglin collapsed back into the wall.

“Getting my leg chewed off by a pissed off Bunia.”

From the kneecap down his leg was twisted and limp, and a large bite mark decorated his thigh. Blood was oozing down, pooling on the floor. Briefly Kraglin hoped they would save it.

“Fuck.” Yondu breathed as he surveyed the damage. 

“There!” Someone shouted from the end of the corridor.

“Get them!”

“Shoot to kill!”

“Come on!” Before Kraglin could even blink he was thrown over the Captain’s shoulder, being bounced like hell as Yondu booked it. “I’ll cover the front, you do the back!”

“Yes Captain!”

It was hard to keep his aim straight while on the back of a sprinting Yondu, it wasn’t exactly something you practiced for, but he was able to hit the majority of his targets. The pleasing sounds of guards going down from his shots followed them as they ran.

“Captain, the exit’s the next left!” He shouted as he managed a perfect headshot.

Yondu went straight by.

“No, Captain, that was the-”

“We ain’t going that way!”

“What?”

Suddenly, it struck Kraglin where they were heading.

“Captain, tell me you’re not…”

He was, they were back in the room with the creepy statue and the chest with the hat. And the nodding dog. 

Yondu didn’t even stop, he just grabbed it as they shot by, did a spectacular pivot for the speed they were going at, and went sprinting back towards the exit, whistling all the way. 

Seeing as all the enemies which were behind them were now in front, Kraglin found himself without a job. He twisted and began shooting over his shoulder, aiming for ones not destined for death by whistle.

“They’re going for the exit!”

“Get-”

The guards didn’t stand a chance, falling from blaster and arrow. Like a flash Yondu was out the door, charging across the mansion grounds and into the backstreets of the city the grand house sat in the middle of. The owner was the duke or lord or something of this place. 

Yondu didn’t stop until they reached the port, making as many confusing turns as possible on the way, where the small ship (they were saving up for a big one, a _proper_ Ravager ship) was docked. The mechanic had enough mind to leave the door open for them, and Yondu jumped in, closed it, and flung them both onto the hard metal ground.

They both lay there, panting, adrenalin pumping through their veins a hundred miles an hour.

“You went back…” Kraglin croaked, “For a nodding dog.”

Yondu let out a breathless laugh, his arm reaching across and dumping the offending item on Kraglin’s chest. Kraglin stared at it.

“You did say we would go back…Can’t deny…It’s cute.”

“Ain’t saying it’s not, just…Shit, Sir.”

Yondu laughed again, staring up at the ceiling. 

“You get the ring?” He asked when he wasn’t gasping quite as much.

Kraglin fished it out of his pocket, handing it to Yondu who held it above his face, turning it over.

“This it?”

“Yup.”

“Was expectin’ grand jewels on it or something.”

“I swear, if it’s the wrong stupid one, the client can go get it their fucking selves.”

“What do you reckon they’ll do with it?”

“Probably stick it in a glass case and forget it’s there. Or lose it down the toilet.”

Kraglin draped an arm over his eyes, grimacing as the adrenaline ebbed away and pain crawled its way up his body. He tried not to tense up his leg and shift the broken bone, sucking in a deep breath and then letting it out slowly. Oh yeah, he was going to be feeling this one for weeks.

He felt a hand pat his shoulder, staying there for a nanosecond longer than needed, before Yondu climbed to his feet.

“Painkillers?”

“Oh fuck yes.”

Yondu chuckled, and helped drag him to their makeshift med bay. 

Kraglin had learnt many things about his new Captain that day. That he was deadly with his arrow, wasn’t the best at making fully fledged exit plans, and was a sucker for nodding dogs.

Hours later Kraglin also learned, when he realises he’s able to taste the colours around him, that Yondu was crap when it came to medication doses. 

Oh well, he had time to learn.

**Author's Note:**

> That was a great hat, Kraglin, Nebula would be proud. 
> 
> Decided to write something for Yondu and Kraglin’s first mission together, and throwed in Kraglin discovering Yondu’s little hobby. Hope you enjoyed this, if so drop by a comment!


End file.
